Armenian side is defeated?
Representatives of political forces gave "A1+" different evaluations of the meeting of the Armenian, Russian and Azerbaijani presidents held in Astrakhan.
Press speaker for the ruling party Edward Sharmazanov says the meeting can lead to positive results against the background of Azerbaijan's latest bellicose declarations, diversions and distortion of history.
"The Azerbaijani president's war rhetoric was a balloon and he was clever to sit at the negotiations table. On the other hand, there are reassuring elements. There is a reference to the Meindorf Declaration in which the main point is that the conflict must be solved through peace," Eduard Sharmazanov told "A1+".
HAK representative Vladimir Karapetyan says the meeting was disgraceful for the Armenian side. According to him, the Armenian side didn't accomplish the goal of having the intermediaries condemn Azerbaijan's unrestrained actions, while the Azerbaijani president accomplished his goals. "Aliyev ensured Medvedev's presence at the opening of his father's statue and an agreement on the return of the diversionist soldier."
According to the HAK representative, the Armenian side ignored the position of the NKR authorities by agreeing to the exchange of the bodies and prisoners of war. Mr. Karapetyan recalls that the NKR authorities had announced that they would consider the return of the soldier's body, if Azerbaijan addressed the NKR.
Vice President of "Heritage" faction Ruben Hakobyan says the meeting didn't make a radical change in the peace process and he views it as a subsequent meeting. As the main subjective point, he sets aside the agreement on the return of bodies and prisoners of war. "Since the entire document has not been released and any document with its shady sides makes it comprehensible, in any case, it can be assumed that the sides, especially Azerbaijan means that a certain agreement will be reached before Astana."
In any case, Mr. Hakobyan doesn't exclude the restart of a war because Azerbaijan is not like Georgia for Russia. "If Azerbaijan has the opportunity to settle the conflict through a blitz war and believes that it will win, it will do it. I wouldn't like for us to believe that the negotiations will allay all fears."
